Durotoye remains ANN’s presidential candidate, says youth group

A group, Youths in Support of Fela Durotoye, Monday said Fela Durotoye is the true presidential candidate for the Alliance for New Nigeria ahead of the general election.

The group accused that People’s Trust presidential candidate, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim and the former interim chairman of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Jay Osi Samuels, of sponsoring “untrue allegations and propaganda” against Fela Durotoye, the presidential candidate of the ANN.

The group said the duo are doing this in an attempt to “mislead and confuse the general public and ultimately discredit” Durotoye’s campaign.

The Group said that Olawepo-Hashim who is the former Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), “is currently on an errand by the party to mislead Nigerians that he is running for President so he can sell off to PDP finally.”

Durotoye on his twitter announced that he beat Olawepo-Hashim during the ANN presidential primaries which was held on September 29 to clinch the party’s ticket.

However, on October 4, the party at its special national convention/presidential primary election held at Ibeto Hotel in Abuja with 593 delegates in attendance, announced Olawepo-Hashim as the party’s candidate for the February 16, 2019, presidential election.

Olawepo-Hashim’s candidature was ratified by all 593 party delegates drawn from states across Nigeria via a unanimous voice vote following the earlier withdrawal of another presidential aspirant, Alhaji Ibrahim Eyitayo Dan-Musa.

Other presidential aspirants who had earlier indicated interest in the party’s ticket did not present themselves for screening by the party’s panel set up for that purpose.

The convention also ratified the strategic alliance between ANN and another political party, Peoples Trust, in the single-minded mission to rescue Nigeria.

The Group in the statement said “Olawepo-Hashim, out of fear of losing the presidential primaries, withdrew from the race and jumped ship to the APT after discovering that Dr. Jay Osi Samuels will be handicapped at carrying out the MoU he had signed with him to sell the party. On the other hand, Dr. Jay Osi Samuels, stepped down as the interim Chairman of the party for fear of losing the chairmanship of the party and for fear of humiliation.”

From all that we have gathered from various credible sources, it is evident that Dr. Jay Osi Samuels had a pact with Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim to sell off ANN to him and PDP. On the failure of their initial plan, they are now on a mission of character assassination of our credible and competent presidential candidate in order to mislead the people.”

While pledging their unwavering support for Durotoye, the Group, said they are not supporting Durotoye “blindly and so if anyone amongst these persons parading themselves as candidate and chairman of a party they are not recognized by having evidence beyond reasonable doubt, they should make such available or else they should desist from spreading rumours and go tell their masters they have failed because the youths of Nigeria will ensure their plans won’t see the light of day come February 2019.”